Andrew Lesnie, the Oscar-winning cinematographer who filmed Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and three “Hobbit” movies, died on Monday in Australia. He was 59.

His death was announced by Ron Johanson, president of the Australian Cinematographers Society, who said Mr. Lesnie had had “a serious heart condition.” He did not give further details.

Mr. Lesnie also filmed Mr. Jackson’s remake of “King Kong,” and his crime drama “The Lovely Bones”; “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” directed by Rupert Wyatt; the Will Smith film “I Am Legend,” directed by Francis Lawrence; and “The Last Airbender,” directed by M. Night Shyamalan.

He had recently completed work on “The Water Diviner,” Russell Crowe’s directorial debut, which opened in American theaters last week.

Mr. Lesnie was best known for the epic “Lord of the Rings” fantasy trilogy, adapted from the J. R. R. Tolkien books and released from 2001 to 2003, and their prequels, the three “Hobbit” films, released from 2012 to 2014.

Mr. Jackson said in a 2004 interview with digitalproducer.com that he had been impressed by Mr. Lesnie’s technique in shooting “Babe,” the 1995 film about a talking pig who preferred to be a sheepdog, and its sequel, “Babe: Pig in the City.”

“I’d never worked with him or even met him before,” Mr. Jackson said, “but he’d shot the ‘Babe’ films. and I thought they looked amazing, the way he’d used backlight and the sun and natural light to create a very magical effect. ‘Babe’ had that larger-than-life feel about it that I wanted.”

For the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, Mr. Lesnie managed nine camera units that filmed primary photography in New Zealand for all three movies over 16 months while often battling the elements. (The films were released on a staggered schedule.) He shot from a special perspective to make the actors playing the diminutive hobbits appear smaller than the other cast members, an impression later enhanced by special-effects technicians.

“I just try to understand the character’s emotional state and to look at what we are trying to say with the scene,” he said in an interview with International Press, “and then I design the lighting accordingly.”

Mr. Lesnie was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1956 and began his career as a camera assistant on the horror film “Patrick” in 1978 while still a student at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School. After graduating, he worked on other films and on television shows in Australia and made a documentary in 1980, “The Comeback,” about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s return to bodybuilding.

In 1993, he was named cinematographer of the year by the Australian Cinematographers Society for the film “You Seng,” or “Temptation of a Monk.”